Jonathan Sanders died after being placed in a chokehold by a Mississippi
police officer

Jonathan Sanders a 39 year old unarmed black man from Stonewall, Mississippi
died after Officer Kevin Herrington placed him in a chokehold for over
20 minutes on the night of July 8, 2015.

Sanders who was a farmer and was at a gas station with his horse and two
wheel buggy last Wednesday night, witnessed an altercation between Officer
Herrington and a white gentleman he knew. When Sanders approached the
pair, and asked Herrington to leave the man alone, the officer became
angry and according to the witness, stated “I’m going to get
that n—-r.”

Herrington got in his police car to chase after Sanders and when he turned
his blue lights on, it startled Sanders’ horse who jolted and caused
him to fall to the ground. According to witnesses, when Sanders began
to run after his horse, that’s when Officer Herrington grabbed him
from behind and placed him in a fatal chokehold for over 20 minutes. Sanders
also stated several times “I can’t breathe.”

Another witness who watched the incident from his house, said he ran outside
and told the officer to let him go, when he saw Sanders’ was unconscious,
he pleaded with the officer to let him perform CPR, but Herrington refused.

State medical examiners provisionally found Sanders died through homicide
by manual asphyxiation, according to the Sanders family attorneys Chokwe
Lumumba and CJ Lawrence. They believe there is probable cause for prosecution.

The Guardian reported, Clarke County’s district attorney Bilbo Mitchell, stated
that he had handled 15 cases of killings by police during his career and
none had resulted in an officer being indicted.

Of course many want answers but autopsy results are being analyzed and
the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation stated an investigation was ongoing
and it is too soon to know what really happened.

The details of this case sound all too familiar. Last year, July 17, 2014,
Eric Garner died in Staten Island after Officer Daniel Pantaleo placed
him in a fatal chokehold during an attempted arrest.

On July 11th, in Stonewall, MS, hundreds of protesters against police brutality held
a peaceful demonstration and vigil for Sanders.

There are far too many incidents of police brutality against unarmed black
men and women that are occurring as of late. We seek answers and justice. In the
Eric Garner case, a settlement of $5.9 million was reached in a year’s time.
These cases can be drawn out for years, but with the out-pour of “No
justice, No peace” the frequent killings of black people by police
and the call to change the policing policy by activists, one can only
wonder “is this hush money?” Do they want the black community
to be happy with this settlement and silence their plight? If so their
efforts are in vain. Reverend Al Sharpton and the Garner family along
with the families of other victims of police brutality will hold a rally
Saturday, July 18th in downtown Brooklyn to demand justice for Garner and a push for police reform.